Plot

Emperor Kuzco is turned into a llama by his ex-administrator Yzma, and must now regain his throne with the help of Pacha, the gentle llama herder.

In this animated comedy from the folks at Disney, the vain and cocky Emperor Kuzco (David Spade) is a very busy man. Besides maintaining his "groove", and firing his suspicious administrator, Yzma (Eartha Kitt), he's also planning to build a new waterpark just for himself for his birthday. However, this means destroying one of the villages in his kingdom. Meanwhile, Yzma is hatching a plan to get revenge and usurp the throne. But, in a botched assassination courtesy of Yzma's right-hand man, Kronk (Patrick Warburton), Kuzco is magically transformed into a llama. Now, Kuzco finds himself the property of Pacha, a lowly llama herder whose home is ground zero for the water park. Upon discovering the llama's true self, Pacha offers to help resolve the Emperor's problem and regain his throne, only if he promises to move his water park.—Richard Hudson

Kuzco (David Spade) is the bratty, narcissistic ruler of an ancient South American empire, who also has an attitude problem. After firing his devious advisor Yzma (Eartha Kitt), she transforms into a llama, after a botched attempt at killing him. Soon, Kuzco must turn to a local farmer to help him become human again.—Tom Daly

A young male emperor is helped by a male family herder after he is transformed into a llama. In order to keep his crown, he must turn back into a human and defeat an elderly female who wants the throne to herself and wants to destroy everyone who lives in the kingdom.—RECB3

Somewhere deep in the jungle a lonely and pathetic Llama narrates its story. Llama says that he was once an Emperor, and his name was Kuzco. Kuzco himself believes that he was the nicest guy in the whole world and his life was ruined for no reason at all. As a child, Kuzco had a privileged life, and nothing was ever denied to him. Kuzco even had helpers to take him up the stairs and put him on his throne.

As he grew up Kuzco (David Spade) became a selfish and egotistical Incan Emperor. Kuzco already had a huge palace, where everyone was at his command. Rudy (John Fiedler) is a well-meaning old man who is first thrown out the palace window for disturbing Kuzco's "groove". Kuzco summons Pacha, the local leader of a village. On his way. Pacha rescues Rudy and learns how finicky the Emperor can be.

Kuzco plans to celebrate his 18th birthday by razing Pacha's village (which is on the top of a hill) to build a lavish summer home called "Kuzcotopia". This news greatly distresses Pacha (John Goodman) as his family has lived on the hilltop for the last 6 generations. Kuzco does not care where Pacha, or the other villagers go to live.

When Kuzco fires his conniving adviser Yzma (Eartha Kitt) for repeatedly doing his job as the Emperor. Yzma holds her own court where she meets petitioners and decrees decisions which are supposed to be the remit of the Emperor. Kuzco had caught Yzma once too often and decides to let go of her. Yzma is livid as she believes that she practically raised Kuzco as a kid and that he should be more grateful to her. Yzma plots to take the throne by poisoning Kuzco at dinner. Since Kuzco is without an heir, Yzma will have no trouble taking over the empire.

Yzma goes to her secret lab to create a poison potion that she plans to put in Kuzco's dinner that night. However, her dim-witted assistant Kronk (Patrick Warburton) instead accidentally laces Kuzco's drink with a potion that transforms him into a Llama instead of causing his death. Under Yzma's instruction, Kronk knocks Kuzco unconscious and attempts to dispose of him outside town.

After a stroke of conscience (personified by a shoulder Angel and demon) prevents Kronk from casting Kuzco over a waterfall. Kronk tries to figure out what to do with Kuzco when he trips on a cat and drops the bag containing Kuzco on Pacha's cart. Before Kronk could stop Pacha, he was already lost in the crowd. Pacha makes his long and lonely journey back to his village.

Pacha returns home to his lighthearted family including Chicha (Wendie Malick), Pacha's caring pregnant wife and Chaca (Kellyann Kelso) and Tipo (Eli Russell Linnetz) Pacha and Chicha's two young, rambunctious children. Pacha does not have the heart to tell Chicha about Kuzco plans for their village.

Pacha discovers Kuzco as he regains consciousness. At first Pacha believes that it is a demon Llama when Kuzco speaks. When Kuzco recognizes Pacha, Pacha realizes that Kuzco has somehow turned into a Llama. Pacha is the first to tell Kuzco that he has turned into a Llama. Kuzco accuses Pacha of turning him into a Llama as revenge for threatening to raze down his village. Kuzco wants to get back to the palace where he believes that Yzma can cure him in her secret lab.

Pacha declines to help Kuzco back to the capital unless he promises to build Kuzcotopia elsewhere. Kuzco and Pacha have a large number of arguments, and after one Kuzco storms off. While Pacha initially allows Kuzco to wander into the jungle alone, he ultimately follows and rescues him from a pack of jaguars. Kuzco was cornered by the jaguars on the edge of a high cliff, and Pacha swings by on a tree wine to rescue Kuzco. Pacha and Kuzco end up falling into the river valley below and go over a tall waterfall. Kuzco almost drowns as a result and Pacha has to revive him using mount to mount resuscitation.

Pacha tries to reason with Kuzco that his new palace will displace a lot of people who have nowhere to go, but Kuzco simply does not care. Pacha realizes that Kuzco is self-centered and heartless. Even then, when Kuzco is freezing at night, Pacha shares his poncho with the Emperor. Kuzco notices this.

Kuzco accepts Pacha's terms to guide him home. Kuzko lies to Pacha that he has changed his mind about his summer palace to get him to take him back to his palace. Later, Kuzco attempts to leave Pacha dangling from an old bridge within an hour's walk from the palace. The bridge had old rotten and wooden footsteps which broke under Pacha's weight. Kuzco admits that he lied to get Pacha to take him back to the palace, and had planned to imprison him for life, when they got there. An altercation between them ensues after Kuzco also falls through the bridge, which results in the bridge's total collapse. Kuzco and Pacha cooperate to save themselves from dropping into a crocodile-infested stream. They wedge against each other's back and work in tandem to climb the mountain wall and avoid falling all the way down. As they the get to the top, the edge of the canyon wall breaks and Pacha was about to fall when Kuzco grabs him and pulls him to safety.

They become friends & Pacha takes a 4-day hike route to the palace, since the bridge is now destroyed. Meanwhile, Yzma discovers that Kronk has failed to eliminate Kuzco, and they both set out to find him. Kronk comes across a squirrel who had encountered Kuzco earlier. Since Kronk was a junior chipmunk, he understands the squirrel, who tells him that a talking Llama gave him a hard time. Yzma realizes that the squirrel is talking about Kuzco. Squirrel points them in the direction of Kuzco.

The pairs arrive at a diner Mudka's meat hut at the same time, unaware of the others' presence (Kuzco is disguised as Llamas were not allowed inside the diner). While Kuzco argues with the cook (Steve Susskind), Pacha overhears Yzma's plan and Kronk narrowly fails to recognize Pacha. Pacha manages to take Kuzco away from the diner, by distracting Yzma by sending a birthday cake to her table. Kuzco, oblivious to Yzma's treachery, brushes off Pacha's attempt to warn him and leaves to meet Yzma, only to overhear Yzma and Kronk's machinations himself soon after.

Realizing that no one in the empire misses him because of his selfish and narcissistic behavior, Kuzco prepares to resign himself to life as a normal Llama (This is the point where we see Kuzco at the start of the movie, alone and pathetic) but encounters Pacha waiting among a herd and reconciles with him. Pacha and Kuzco return to Pacha's home to collect some supplies before heading to the palace. Kronk, meanwhile, finally recalls Pacha and his connection to Kuzco. He and Yzma await them at Pacha's home, posing as distant family members. While Yzma is shifty and suspicious, Kronk enjoys his time playing with Pacha's children. Pacha signals his wife through the window and has his family delay Yzma by locking her and Kronk in a closet, giving him and Kuzco a head-start back to the capital. Yzma and Kronk are soon on their trail.

Kuzco and Pacha find Yzma's secret lab and numerous transformation potions, but Yzma has taken the potion that would return Kuzco to normal. She orders Kronk to kill Kuzco and Pacha with a knife, but Kronk cannot bring himself to do so. Yzma finally gets tired of Kronk and calls him a monkey and insults his cooking (Kronk was very proud of his cooking). Yzma drops Kronk through a trap door after he attempts to kill her instead by dropping a chandelier on her head. Yzma drops the human vial among a scattered collection of others, and she calls upon the palace guards to seize Kuzco and Pacha.

A chase through the palace ensues in which Kuzco and the guards consume different vials, changing into different animals. As Kuzco and Pacha are cornered on the ledges of a giant stone structure, they find they are down to two vials. Yzma lunges onto Kuzco but accidentally lands on one of the two, turning herself into a small cat. Despite the transformation, she still manages to gain the upper hand in the struggle for the final vial but is unexpectedly foiled by Kronk opening a window. Kuzco drinks it and returns to his human form.

Having made amends with those whom he offended and regained his throne, Kuzco opts to build his summer home on a neighboring, unoccupied hill. Sometime later, Kuzco joins Pacha and his family at his modest resort. Elsewhere, Kronk has become a scout leader, and trains a new batch of scouts in the language of squirrels, including the reluctant Yzma, who remains a cat.